Topics: Social media age limits; RBA-Chalmers;
07:45AM AEST
10 September 2024
Pete Stefanovic: Anthony Albanese will announce social media restrictions this morning that aims to stop kids from accessing social media because of the scourge of online bullying. Joining us live now is the Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister, Simon Birmingham, for his thoughts on this and other matters. Simon, good to see you. So, you’ve already got a policy to stop kids under 16 from accessing social media. I think it’s good to try here as social media is not a real place. I’ve just got strong doubts about how it can be achieved. So, in reality, do you think it can?
Simon Birmingham: Well, yes, we do, Pete. And what we’ve got today is Anthony Albanese playing catch up with a thought bubble rather than a concrete policy or firm legislative proposal. It’s months ago, now, back in June, when Peter Dutton announced clarity around a Coalition policy to undertake a ban to do so at age 16 and to require age verification technology be used. This was a well thought out and appropriately detailed policy. We’ve also got the example of the South Australian Premier having announced details there, different age at 14. But equally, he has released concrete firm details. Anthony Albanese is going out there today saying he’s going to do something, but he’s not sure what age. He’s not sure what means. It’s hardly leadership from the Prime Minister. It’s just a desperate catch up.
Pete Stefanovic: Yeah. Look, I mean, as I said, I think it’s good to try here, but then you’ve got these social media giants who just don’t care. I mean, if thousands of kids are going to access social media and they will, regardless of age, are they really going to pay hundreds if not thousands of different sets of fines?
Simon Birmingham: Well, this is not an Australia only problem. And indeed, you’ve got right across the world and different jurisdictions acting. You can see it in different United States jurisdictions. You can see it in other countries of the world as well. So, I think the social media giants are going to find that governments and legislatures around the world are taking this issue seriously. That they can see the type of harms to mental health, the type of harms to educational outcomes that social media is inflicting on young people. It is absolutely right for governments to be clear about trying to set some limits around this, to give parents and teachers back power and control in relation to access to these technologies. To ensure that they have greater authority in how decisions are made, rather than feeling helpless because there is always some work around.
Pete Stefanovic: Okay. Just on to another matter this morning, Simon, the Coalition is to block an overhaul of the RBA. What’s your reasoning?
Simon Birmingham: Well, you’ve seen Jim Chalmers wanting to blame everybody but the Albanese Government for the out-of-control inflation that continues to hurt Australians. His latest target has been to hurl blame at the Reserve Bank. It’s clear that he wants to sack and stack the Reserve Bank board with his Labor mates and people who will do the government favour, rather than putting good economic policy first. We’re just not going to tolerate that. We want to ensure that the Reserve Bank maintains its independence and maintains the ability to put the critical fight against inflation first, rather than doing the bidding of the Albanese Government.
Pete Stefanovic: Too many chefs in the kitchen. Is that also a problem here? I mean, what’s the point of the original board if you want to bring in a new board or new members who will basically do the same thing?
Simon Birmingham: Well, there was always a tinge of this reform that felt like it was far more bureaucratic and administrative in setting up separate, different boards and creating additional complexities. All of that regardless, we’ve got a Labor government who’ve had a long time to negotiate an outcome here. They’ve been dogmatic about seemingly wanting to stack the board, and we’re just not going to tolerate that, particularly when their motivations have become quite clear and transparent in the last couple of weeks with this Labor assault on the independent Reserve Bank board. This country has been very well served by having clear custodians of monetary policy for decades now who Peter Costello gave clear guidelines and independence to and is that type of framework that has kept us with one of the strongest economies in the world, and we shouldn’t be letting Labor tinker with it or destroy it.
Pete Stefanovic: I seem to recall there was a push months back to try and get members of unions on that board. I mean, would it be in your interest to keep that at arm’s length?
Simon Birmingham: Well, this is about the country’s interests. About ensuring that we have an independent Reserve Bank board that makes decisions about interest rates in the long-term interests of the nation. Consistent with the mandate, the Reserve Bank is given to fight inflation and to keep it within a 2 to 3% target range. Now, that is an approach that has served this country well, and to see the Albanese Government want to distort it by potentially putting Union or other Labor mates on the board and in doing so, further, their campaign against the Reserve Bank is just not going to be in the long-term interests of the country. What we need is the Labor government to spend its time focusing on having a real plan to fight inflation itself, rather than spending billions of dollars working against the Reserve Bank and making their job harder for them.
Pete Stefanovic: Okay, Simon Birmingham, we’ll leave it there.
[ENDS]